Today we are going to introduce to you for the first time new cooling solutions using heat-pipe design and originally shaped heatsinks from the Taiwanese CoolJag Company. Find out how efficient they prove in our extensive thermal and acoustic testing against the one of the best air-cooling solution of all times – Thermaltake Big Typhoon.

I’ve been asked by email what quad-core CPU we have and why it is so cool. Well, I don’t think it’s cool, I think it’s quite hot. And here is a photo of it:

So, I use an engineering sample of the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor with a default clock rate of 2400MHz. There is no traditional 5-character marking on the heat-spreading cap and Intel’s website mentions only one quad-core CPU with a frequency of 2400MHz. It is marked as SL9UM and has the following characteristics:

All tests are performed in Windows XP Professional Edition Service Pack 2. SpeedFan 4.32 is used to monitor the temperature of the CPU, reading it from the CPU sensor. The CPU is heated up by means of OverClock Checking Tool version 1.1.0 in a 25-minute test during which the system remains idle in the first and last 4 minutes.

The mainboard’s automatic fan speed management is disabled for the time of the tests. The thermal throttling of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor is controlled with RightMark CPU Clock Utility version 2.25. Our CPU begins to skip clock cycles on reaching a temperature of 82°C and higher.

I perform at least two cycles of tests and wait for 25-30 minutes for the temperature to stabilize during each test cycle. The maximum temperature of the hottest CPU core in the two test cycles is considered as the final result (if the difference is not bigger than 1°C – otherwise the test is performed once again). Despite the stabilization period, the result of the second cycle is usually 0.5-1°C higher.

The ambient temperature was monitored by means of an electric thermometer and remained at 24-24.5°C during the tests. The fan rotation speed is shown in the diagram as reported by monitoring tools.

I didn’t look long for an opponent to the CoolJag coolers. The Big Typhoon from Thermaltake is one of the most optimal solutions in terms of performance, availability and price. (But you can write to our forum for suggestions on what coolers should be taken for reference in our future tests). I have also tested several coolers recently (for details see our article called Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme vs. Super Coolers), including the Big Typhoon, so it’s easy to compare the results of today’s test session with those of the cooler you’re interested in.